Have you found solid ground?

Series: But God

Title: Have you found solid ground?

Date: Aug. 26, 2018

Scripture: Psalm 73

Intro: Today we will continue our series, “But God.” In this series we have seen different in which has stepped in and made a difference. Last week we saw how God stepped in and kept David safe and secure. This week we will look at Psalm 73 and see God as the ROCK of our heart. Our sermon for today is called, “Have you found solid ground?”

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Main Points:

Life isn’t fair

This is what the psalmist was struggling with

LIFE WASN’T FAIR

Is it fair that:

Sickness destroys the life of good people

Some people are born into riches and others into poverty (Ex. Rich man and Lazarus)

Some people live in places in which they might never hear the gospel

Some people are born with disabilities while others are fine

LIFE ISN’T FAIR

What are we going do about it?

Get on our social media and let everyone we know that life isn’t fair

Get our own talk show and bring other people on to complain that life isn’t fair

Oh wait, that already has happened it’s called CNN

Become a liberal

Shake our fist at the Almighty Creator and say, “This all YOUR fault!”

Look in the mirror

When we look in the mirror we see ourselves

What are we? We are humans and what did we as humans do?

We brought sin into God’s perfect creation!

We as humans made life not fair

How we deal with life not being fair

We remember: BUT GOD is the ROCK OF MY HEART! (v.26)

When we stand firm upon this ROCK we will see:

That one day God will right all the wrongs

All sickness will be done away with

The wicked will be cast away and those who are righteous will prevail

THE KING OF KINGS sitting upon His throne judging in perfect righteousness

That life will one day be fair for all eternity

You don’t have all the answers

The psalmist attempted to figured out why those who did evil were prospering. After much thought he admitted, “When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight.”

The psalmist didn’t have an answer for his question. He couldn’t grasp why those who do evil seemed to have it so well.

We are just like the psalmist because we don’t have all the answers. We might think that we have all the answers but we really don’t and I can prove it!

Why doesn’t McDonalds sell hotdogs?

Why is bread in the shape of a square but deli meat is round or oval?

Why was the Lone Ranger called the Lone Ranger? (He always had Tonto to help him)

Why do we park on driveways but drive on parkways?

Why do we say a pair of jeans?

Why does the dentist ask you questions when you can’t respond?

Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?

Why do people pay money to go to the top of a building and then put money in the binoculars to look at things on the ground?

If Jimmy cracked corn and no one cared, why do we have a song about it?

If Wil E. Coyote had all that money to but ACME stuff, why didn’t he just buy his dinner?

Those are some fun examples of how we don’t have all the answers but what about when the questions hit home.

Why am I battling this sickness?

Why is my child struggling in school?

Why can’t I seem to land a good job?

What do we do when we don’t the answers?

We remember: BUT GOD is the ROCK OF MY HEART!

When we stand firm upon the ROCK we see:

Our God is all-knowing

Our God is all-wise

Wisdom comes from God

God hears our prayers and cries for help

God gives His wisdom to those who ask

We don’t need to have all the answers because we know the ONE who does!

You will FAIL

Failure will happen in your life

Why? Because you are a sinner and that’s what sinner do they sin

The psalmist plainly stated that we will fail.

Ways in which the psalmist failed:

Envious of the wicked

Questioned why he had kept the ways of God

By keeping his heart pure

By washing his hand in innocence

Complained about his struggles

Stricken and chastened

Was embittered

Senseless

Ignorant

Failure will lead us to one of two locations:

Location 1 – FAR, FAR Away

We can allow failure to overcome us and drive away from God

I messed up bad this time.

God won’t love me anymore.

God can’t use someone who fails all the time

When this mind sets in we begin to take steps away from God

Stop reading the Bible

Stop praying

Stop going to church

As all this happens we end up in a place called, FAR, FAR Away

Location 2 – Forgiveness

We end up at FORGIVENESS by remembering: BUT GOD is the ROCK of MY HEART!

As we stand FIRM upon the ROCK we see:

God is waiting for us to come back to Him

God is willing to cleanse us from our sinful ways

God wants us to experience forgiveness

God uses failures to do great things

David – Had a man killed to cover up his adulterous ways

Moses – Killed an Egyptian and then ran away

Abraham – Lied to save his life

Peter – Denied Jesus 3 times in one night

Paul – Persecuted Christians

As we remember that God is the Rock our heart we are able to seek out FORGIVENESS.

As a human YOU WILL FAIL but what will you allow that failure to do to you?

Will you allow FAILURE to drag you to FAR, FAR Away?

If so, more than likely you FAILURE will become final

Will you allow FAILURE to draw you to FORGIVENESS?

If so, you will experience a cleansing from God that gives you FREEDOM to serve Him.

Closing: We have seen today that life isn’t fair, we don’t have all the answers, and failure will happen to us. These things can cause to lose our footing in life. Remember the words from verse 26: My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength (rock) of my heart and my portion forever. Have you found solid ground?